Our team bounces back from last week’s loss just in time to re-enter the race for the treasure. They’ve come a long way since they first banded together, but have they learned enough to solve the ancient riddles and stop an evil collector from gaining eternal life?
EPISODES 11-12
Dae-myung has finally gotten his hands on his parents’ killer, and he’s not about to let go. While being throttled, Hwin-dal confirms that Chairman Kim gave the orders, and also that his assignment was to kill the whole family, Dae-myung included. The conversation gives Hwin-dal time to grope for his pen and reverse their positions, but Dae-myung ultimately sends him crashing through the window.
Dae-myung tries to run downstairs and finish Hwin-dal off, but faints on the way down. Fortunately, Tae-in and Chang-hoon arrive in time to catch him. In those few minutes, Hwin-dal disappears. Team Karma gathers at Choon-ja’s house, and they all learn what happened to Dae-myung’s parents while he sleeps off the shock and minor injuries.
As soon as Dae-myung wakes up, he jumps out of bed demanding Hwin-dal’s whereabouts. Min-woo quietly shares her own story of orphanhood and pursuit of revenge (on the delinquents who caused her grandmother to become permanently paralyzed).
While their experiences aren’t exactly the same, they’ve both found a new family in Team Karma. And right now, the team needs him. Once they finish this job, they’ll help him get his revenge, too. Thanks partially to Min-woo’s words and partially to a dream wherein his father urges him to move on, Dae-myung rejoins Team Karma with renewed determination.
Chairman Kim has already left for Gyeongju with the map he traced from the coins, so now is the perfect opportunity for Team Karma to break into his bedroom safe. Dr. Go, having previously worked undercover with the gardening staff, promises to get them inside. (Of course, he fails to mention that he’s never set foot inside the building until they’ve got the door open…)
With Dr. Go’s (albeit limited) knowledge of the grounds and a camera trick Choon-ja unabashedly stole directly from MacGyver, Dae-myung, Tae-in, and Dr. Go sneak in and open Chairman Kim’s safe. Their big prize is the ancient record book explaining how to follow the coin map — not to mention a clue that helps them discover the map’s imprint Chairman Kim unwittingly bored into his desk — but they can’t resist viewing the contents of several flash drives also kept in the safe.
The “test shot” videos mean nothing to Team Karma. But in their haste to flee and avoid detection, they leave one playing for Hwin-dal to find, and it rocks his world. These videos are deepfakes that Chairman Kim used to make Hwin-dal believe his sister was alive and well. In truth, she’s long dead, courtesy of Shota.
According to the record book’s coded instructions, when the Big Dipper hangs directly over Cheomseongdae Observatory on a specific date, another constellation (the shape formed by the coin map) will point to the treasure’s location. It’s almost time, so everyone heads to Gyeongju. Except Dae-myung, who stops by a temple to investigate something his father once told him about that Stone of Eternal Life Chairman Kim is after.
As the fateful day approaches, Chairman Kim uses his newfound influence to set up checkpoints on the road to catch Team Karma. Undeterred, Choon-ja flips a switch and the van’s license plate and identifying marks change automatically.
While Dae-myung is en route, he’s T-boned by Shota and knocked unconscious. But Shota isn’t the only one here for blood — Hwin-dal has caught up. At long last, Pen and Knife battle it out. Shota gets the upper hand, sticking his knife in Hwin-dal’s chest and crowing about the moment he killed Hwin-dal’s sister. That gives Hwin-dal the extra rage needed to throw Shota to the ground.
The police are closing in, so Shota flees. Dae-myung, conscious by this point, struggles against his seat belt, knowing full well those officers are in Chairman Kim’s pocket. Wordlessly, Hwin-dal tosses him Shota’s knife so he can cut himself free and evade capture.
While Chairman Kim uses a drone to find the constellation early, Team Karma splits up to get a glimpse of it themselves. It’s not an easy task. Chang-hoon and Tae-in are arrested. Min-woo and Dr. Go are attacked, and Dr. Go takes a knife in the back, urging Min-woo to go on without him. Dae-myung gets the treasure’s location, but time is running out: his pit stop at the temple informed him that the stone’s power to grant eternal life is a myth. Instead, it’s killed everyone who’s tried to take it.
I’m still thinking some combination of “cursed stone” and “elaborate booby traps” at this point, but when Chairman Kim lifts the stone out of its case, no traps spring. Instead, the “curse” (if there is one) manifests in the form of Hwin-dal. He kills Shota first, brutally and with relish. Then he listens to Chairman Kim’s insincere apology and proceeds to bash Chairman Kim’s head in using the Stone of Eternal Life itself. Talk about irony!
By the time Dae-myung arrives, only Hwin-dal is standing, but he’s holding a gun to his own head. He tearfully apologizes for everything. Dae-myung stops him from committing suicide, ordering him to live with regret instead of taking the easy way out.
With Hwin-dal’s confession, Team Karma exposes Chairman Kim’s crimes and arrests his accomplices. Tae-in and Choon-ja officially and adorably begin their relationship with a late-night drive to go out dancing. Dr. Go, having recovered from his wounds, disappears, leaving behind a letter for Min-woo. No, he’s not her father. But her father died saving him, and he’s always felt responsible.
Three months later, Team Karma (sans Dae-myung and Choon-ja) gathers to celebrate Ae-ri’s initiation to the police unit as a special investigator. That’s when they get a message from Skunk: he’s tracked down the rest of the artifacts Chairman Kim stole from the police station, and it’s Go Time!
I will say, I was the teensiest bit disappointed that the warning that everyone in the vicinity would die if the Stone of Eternal Life was stolen didn’t pan out to mean, well, much of anything aside from the general consequences of greed. But I did find it amusing that our heroes had a Very Serious Conversation about why they couldn’t just let those consequences take their toll, only for Dae-myung to arrive too late to prevent it.
It just seemed a bit odd to send the incredibly, inhumanly evil villain into certain doom and then act like we should want our heroes to not let him die. But we needed an excuse for Dae-myung to be there to save Hwin-dal, so here we are.
That said, I liked that the stone’s “powers” were all the product of embellished legends. Like any other artifact, its actual value was simply as a piece of history. But Chairman Kim, like the other collectors, tried to turn it into a tool for exploitation and personal gain instead. And karma finally caught up to him, in more ways than one.
While I was surprised we got more outright confirmation on our other two couples than we did on Dae-myung and Min-woo’s relationship, I agree with Min-woo that Team Karma is a beautiful little family and the best thing about this fun little show. So I very much appreciated that their current story was wrapped up neatly while also leaving the door wide open for a second season (I know it’s unlikely, but we can dream, right?).